The present invention relates to an absorbent article, such as a sanitary napkin, a panty liner or a female incontinence napkin, wherein the article includes a front portion, a rear portion that includes an absorbent body enclosed between a liquid-permeable casing sheet and a liquid-impermeable casing sheet, and wherein the absorbent body comprises a central pad that extends from the front end of the front portion to the rear end of the rear portion, and two side bodies that extend along the side edges of the absorbent body along a part thereof and on respective sides thereof.
Sanitary napkins and similar articles often leak as a result of poor adaptation to the wearer""s body or as a result of being displaced from their correct position during use. Many different solutions have been proposed with the intention of solving this problem. One method of adapting a sanitary napkin to the wearer""s body is known from EP-A2-0 302 523, which teaches a sanitary napkin that has provided in the rear portion of the napkin an upwardly projecting ridge or hump which is intended to be placed between the wearer""s buttocks and which has been produced by a sealed fold in said rear napkin portion. Another method is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,197,959, which teaches a sanitary napkin that includes a spring-back element placed beneath an absorbent body, said element imparting an upwardly convex cross-sectional shape to the absorbent body in use.
W 97/15259 teaches a sanitary napkin of the kind defined in the introduction, in which centrally located side bodies impart an upwardly convex shape to the absorbent body in a longitudinal central part thereof, by virtue of elastic means. A sanitary napkin of this kind functions well under the majority of conditions. Rearward leakage can occur, however, when the wearer lies on her back.
An object of the present invention is to provide an absorbent article in the form of a sanitary napkin, a panty liner or a female incontinence napkin that conforms effectively to the wearer""s body, has good leakage security even in respect of rearward leakage, and that can be produced and packaged in a flat state.
These objects are achieved with an absorbent article in the form of a sanitary napkin, a panty liner or a female incontinence napkin that has a front portion and a rear portion and which includes an absorbent body enclosed between a liquid-permeable casing sheet and a liquid-impermeable casing sheet, wherein the absorbent body comprises a central pad that extends from the front end of the front portion to the rear end of the rear portion, and two side bodies that extend along the side edges of the central absorbent body on respective sides thereof and along a part of said absorbent body, characterised in that the central absorbent body narrows rearwardly from a section of greatest width in the front portion to the end of the rear portion; and in that the side bodies extend rearwardly from a point on the tapering part of the central absorbent body that is located in the front part of the rear end of the article. Because the central absorbent body tapers or narrows rearwardly, it will fit effectively in the space between the wearer""s buttocks and obtain good abutment with the wearer""s body along its full length. This provides an effective seal against rearward leakage. The side bodies will, at the same time, lie against the wearer""s buttocks and therewith ensure an effective seal against lateral leakage at the rear portion of the article.
In one preferred embodiment, the side bodies consist of bodies that are separate from the central absorbent body. The central absorbent body has a greatest width of 90-60 mm, preferably 70 mm, in the front portion of the article, and a smallest width of 5-15 mm, preferably 10 mm, in the rear portion of said article. The central absorbent body also includes a first layer of absorbent material of high absorbency, and a second layer of liquid acquisition material disposed between the first layer of absorbent material and the liquid-permeable casing sheet. The side bodies may conveniently consist of the same material as the liquid acquisition sheet or the first sheet of absorbent material.
In a second advantageous embodiment, a pretensioned elastic element extends along the longitudinal symmetry axis of the article, from the rear end of said article to its front portion. The elastic element preferably extends into the front portion of said article. The elastic element is suitably disposed between the central absorbent body and the liquid-permeable casing sheet.
An elastic element may also be disposed in the intermediate spaces between the central absorbent body and the side bodies between the casing sheets.
When the central absorbent body includes first layers of absorbent material of high absorbency, and a second layer of liquid acquisition material disposed between the first layer of absorbent material and the liquid-permeable casing sheet, the pretensioned elastic element will preferably be disposed on that side of the first layer of absorbent material of the central absorbent body that lies distal to the liquid-impermeable casing sheet and fastened to said layer.
In one advantageous variant, the pretensioned elastic element may extend longitudinally over the whole of the central absorbent body and in the front portion of the article extend along the side edges of said front portion.
In one variant of the embodiments, the side bodies may constitute parts of a layer of absorbent material included in the central absorbent body, wherewith the side bodies are conveniently delimited from the central absorbent body by fold lines in the layer of which the side bodies form part.